St. Justin Martyr

[jckstraw72]

Hey I was just wondering what some of ya'll think about St. Justin Martyr's writings. At points he seems to say Christ is God, and at other times he seems to say that He is not God. Whats the deal?

[Michael the Iconographer]

I have been a HUGE fan of St. Justin Martyr since my early days of college. I have even written a few icons of him. I would rank him on my list of all time favorite saints.

IIRC St. Justin Martyr was a philosopher who believed Christianity to be the true philosophy. He was martyred for this.

[choirfiend]

What pretty blue eyes you have, jckstrw...:P I bet your mom likes them too.


Care to list some examples of where you think he is and isnt referring to Christ as God?

[jckstraw72]

hmmmm, im not sure what hte blue eye stuff is about, but mah mama thinks i rock the casbah.

From http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08580c.htm

Justin Martyr's theology of the Logos:

The Word is numerically distinct from the Father (Dial., cxxviii, cxxix; cf. lvi, lxii). He was born of the very substance of the Father, not that this substance was divided, but He proceeds from it as one fire does from another at which it is lit (cxxviii, lxi); this form of production (procession) is compared also with that of human speech (lxi). The Word (Logos) is therefore the Son: much more, He alone may properly be called Son (II Apol., vi, 3); He is the monogenes, the unigenitus (Dial., cv). Elsewhere, however, Justin, like St. Paul, calls Him the eldest Son, prototokos (I Apol., xxxiii; xlvi; lxiii; Dial., lxxxiv, lxxxv, cxxv). The Word is God (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06608a.htm) (I Apol., lxiii; Dial., xxxiv, xxxvi, xxxvii, lvi, lxiii, lxxvi, lxxxvi, lxxxvii, cxiii, cxv, cxxv, cxxvi, cxviii). His Divinity, however, seems subordinate, as does the worship which is rendered to Him (I Apol., vi; cf. lxi, 13; Teder, "Justins des Märtyrers Lehre von Jesus Christus", Freiburg im Br., 1906, 103-19). The Father engendered Him by a free and voluntary act (Dial., lxi, c, cxxvii, cxxviii; cf. Teder, op. cit., 104), at the beginning of all His works (Dial., lxi, lxii, II Apol., vi, 3); in this last text certain authors thought they distinguished in the Word two states of being, one intimate, the other outspoken, but this distinction, though found in some other apologists, is in Justin very doubtful. Through the Word God (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06608a.htm) has made everything (II Apol., vi; Dial., cxiv). The Word is diffused through all humanity (I Apol., vi; II, viii; xiii); it was He who appeared to the patriarchs (I Apol., lxii; lxiii; Dial., lvi, lix, lx etc.). Two influences are plainly discernible in the aforesaid body of doctrine. It is, of course, to Christian (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03712a.htm) revelation that Justin owes his concept of the distinct personality of the Word, His Divinity and Incarnation; but philosophic speculation is responsible for his unfortunate concepts of the temporal and voluntary generation of the Word, and for the subordinationism of Justin's theology. It must be recognized, moreover, that the latter ideas stand out more boldly in the "Apology" than in the "Dialogue."

Ill give an example of each

from his 1st apology, chapter 63: "For they who affirm that the Son is the Father, are proved neither to have become acquainted with the Father, nor to know that the Father of the universe has a Son; who also, being the first-begotten Word of God, is even God."

ok, well i cant find the other example i was thinking of, but i definitley remember readin something from St. Justin Martyr saying that Christ is the son of God and Logos of God, but not God. Perhaps i am wrong though

[Mary of Bethany]

I've never read any of his writings, but I've been asking his intercession a lot lately for a non-Christian friend of mine named Justin.

:crosseo:

Mary